


Nano

by Fogfire



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-08-06 13:17:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16388429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fogfire/pseuds/Fogfire
Summary: What good are all those precious moments when you don't remember them?





	Nano

Addition: The terms of endearment are Swahili, in TOS it’s said to be her native language.

**Nano** bacterium (pl. nanobacteria) is the unit or member name of a proposed class of living organisms, specifically cell-walled microorganisms with a size much smaller than the generally accepted lower limit for life…

-

Nyota awakens from the sensation of a nose pressed against her neck and a warm hand covering her hip bone.

At least she thinks that’s what woke her up, it could also have been your breath tickling her skin or the fact that the blanket has slipped off her chest, leaving her to cool down. She snuggles closer to you, taking in the warmth you radiate.

“Kipenzi,” she whispers, the term of endearment slipping so much easier of her tongue when she says it in her native language, “ _Dear one_ , wake up.”

Your eyelids flutter a bit, telling her that you’re, in fact, awake.

She sighs and drops a soft kiss on the edge of your chin, the side of your nose and the corner of your eye.

“Wake up,” she whispers again but you keep still, too still to be convincing. Nyota smiles a wry smile that you can’t see before she heaves a heavy sigh.

“Well, if you’re still asleep it seems I have to take my shower all alone.”

Your eyes pop open in an instant. You try to mask it by blinking a few times but she’s already laughing in your face, slipping your hands into yours to pull you up from the bed.

“Come on, let’s get ready for the day.”

“Mndani,” you sigh, “ _Sweetheart_ , you’re cruel.”

-

To the crew of the enterprise, especially to the senior officers, your friends, it seems as if the two of you have always been together, at least from the day you two have stepped onto the ship.

That is not completely true. You had met during Starfleet and the chemistry that keeps your relationship strong had sparked up then, but neither of you had been ready to take the leap of faith. Maybe you had been too determined to put your education first or you had been happy with friendship alone for a while, but it had taken you almost three months into your first assignment to understand that neither of you were going anywhere and that your friendship might be strong, but it was built on something so much stronger.

Now, the end of the five-year mission drawing nearer, everyone knew that the two of you were going to marry each other during shore leave and the closes of your friends had already agreed to celebrate with you in Nyota’s hometown, despite none of them had ever been to Africa before.

“Ach, the lovebirds,” Scotty joked and slipped onto your bench at the mess hall, smiling at the two of you, “I’m sorry to disturb you, but I’ve got some time today, maybe you want to work on the particle accelerator with me?”

You look towards Nyota who nods at you. “I’d love too. When do you have time?”

Your PADD beeps and Nyoto picks it up, looking at it.

“Kipenzi, Commander Spock asks if you could look after the spore drive before Alpha starts.”

“Sure, would you accompany me?”

Nyota smiles at him and types their answer while you turn back towards Scotty.

“Sorry. Where were we?”

-

“The spore drive looks promising,” Nyota tells Commander Spock when she returns to the bridge. He nods and she blinks a few times before she takes her seat.

“Are you feeling well, Lieutenant Uhura?” The Commander asks. She stares at her monitor in silence, only turning back to him when he softly touches her shoulder to get her attention.

“Excuse me?” She asks and he repeats the question.

She takes his appearance in, confusion written all over her face.

“Who… who are you?”

-

McCoy’s started working hours before Alpha’s started, working off the paperwork that’s due at the end of the week. He’s tired, he’s grumpy, he longs for something stronger than coffee and the day hasn’t even officially begun when a blue shirt comes running in, panic visible in their eyes.

“Doctor McCoy, Lieutenant Y/N! I… It’s… I didn’t know what to do!”

They have to bring you in on a stretcher, arms bound to the sides, sedation already kicking in. You stare numbly at the ceiling above you.

McCoy scans you from head to toe, cursing under his breath when he sees the readings.

“Can you hear me?” He snaps his fingers in front of your face, the sound pulling you back from sedation a bit.

“Who are you?” You ask him, your tongue not moving quite the way you want it too, “Where am I?”

“I am Doctor Leonard McCoy, CMO of the USS Enterprise. I am your friend.”

“Really?” You ask back, “You don’t look like a friend of mine.”

McCoy can’t help but snort at your comment, so out of place in a moment like this. But then he sees Spock carrying in Nyota, putting her down on the Bio-Bed next to yours.

“Memory Loss, loss of control over her limbs and tongue,” Spock reports, looking over at you and something like worry crosses his features for the shortest moment.

McCoy scans Nyota as well, before heaving a sigh. “The readings are all messed up. Where they in contact with something toxic recently?”

“We have a new spore drive,” Spock exclaims, “I hardly think it to be toxic, but I will test it immediately.”

-

It takes them two hours to find the Nanobacteria that causes their symptoms. Two hours in which your brain function grows weaker and weaker. You look like you’re dying alive, the two of you and the worst part of this, McCoy thinks every time he takes a look at you, is that you don’t even recognize your significant other lying in the bed next to you.

What good is dying with the love of your life when you don’t even know it’s her?

It takes them another half an hour to find an antidote and exactly then days to restore your brain function.

Commander Spock’s reading different languages to Uhura, adamant about being her instructor again, now that she needs him. She learns fast, is able to speak all the languages again that she used to, but whenever the conversation turns towards you, there is the same confusion on her face. She does not know who you are.

Sadly, the same goes for you.

-

It takes them five days to realize that they can’t do anything about it. They’ve tried telling the two of you what you’ve had before, tried showing you pictures and holo video’s, but all it does is frighten you.

Eventually, it’s Christine who snaps first.

“Now that you’ve seen that your male approach hasn’t worked out, let me handle this!” She demands, shooing Scotty and Pavel away and putting on her best glare to get the Captain and his first officer to leave before she turns towards McCoy.

“They need privacy!” She tells him, fists pressed to her sides to give her words emphasis. “You try to get their memories to come back by telling them everything. What made them great was their chemistry, not the moments they’ve spent together. All you gotta do is let them find their chemistry anew.”

Her approach: Give them time. Stick them together. Give them even more time.

And eventually, it works.

-

Commander Spock stops in front of the doors of a deserted lab as he hears Nyota’s laugh. He peers inside, surprised to see her laugh at something you’ve said.

Scotty meets the two of you in Mess Hall, right when you’re still new to all of this, whispering to each other about how weird it is to have forgotten so much, bonding over the shared loss of something they don’t remember losing.

Kirk walks by when you hug Nyota for the first time after a particularly stressful day and he slips by as quiet as possible, trying to give you the privacy you need.

Pavel almost stumbles over the two of you right when you kiss each other for what feels like the first time. He retreats back into the shadows urgently, not wanting to disturb a moment like this. It’s only one month left to a wedding they had almost given up on.

Nyota’s lips feel soft and new and well known at the same time. It feels like coming home and stepping out into the world for the first time.

A memory resurfaces and you grasp it with hungry arms.

Nyota, in your arms, in your shared bed, smiling at you, calling you “Kipenzi” under her breath.

You break the kiss, breathless from the surprise, the shock, the happiness, a tear slipping out when you lean your temple against hers.

“I just remembered…” You mumble, unable to finish the sentence. She smiles up at you, crying as well.

“Me too.”

-

“Doctor McCoy,” The two of you walk into med-bay, your fingers linked together like they used to. “We would like to talk to you about the past.”

“You remembered?” He asks and you nod, looking over to Nyota.

“Not everything, but it’s coming back. We remembered there’s a wedding coming up and we’d like to know if you could help us sort out everything.”

McCoy smiles. “I’d love to.”

“Also I don’t know if I already asked but would you be my best man?” You ask and McCoy has to hold back a laugh.

“You already asked, but I am happy you’re asking me again. And before you ask, Nyota, you’ve asked Christine about a year ago if she’d be your bridesmaid.”

“She said yes, I hope?” Nyota asks and heaves a relieved sigh when McCoy nods.

-

One month later you vow to love each other.

“In sickness and in health, in poorness and in wealth, in good and in bad times, no matter how many memories I’ll forget, we will make new ones, over and over again.”


End file.
